Greek Festival

I went to Greek Fest last year (2009) and thought it was pretty lame. Mainly because they ran out of food and drink. But this year they promised to be better prepared, and better supplied. No doubt, I actually got to get to the food and beer this year (2010) but incredibly overpriced. I couldn’t believe that the food sold out last year, if it was the same price they must have made a killing.
I hoped though that it was going to be more educational in some way — but I actually felt like I was at a Greek swap meet. They have music and entertainment, and even a doctor came in to show his pictures… of his vacation (i think) — It didn’t seem like I learned much about the culture.
A gyro is $ 7 and a Hillas Beer was $ 6 — the best part of the food was the kabobs at $ 4 and a pita for $ 1 — that was truly the better deal out of anything available.
Overall, I don’t think I’m going to return next year. I tried the food, heard the music and slept during the presentations, nothing really else to do unless you have tons of expendable income and feel like taking advantage of the incredibly over priced goods.
OOOOooopah!

I try to go to the Greek Festival every year. Happens in late summer. The music is great — the Greek Orthodox Church flies in an authentic Greek Band from California every year. There’s a lot of dancing going on, fun to watch.
The gyros are good — go before dinner time to avoid the lines. I like the really thinly sliced tomato they put on it. MMMmmm… I also really like the desserts. Can’t go wrong with several different kinds of baklavah in addition to other baked goods. My favorites are the pistachio baklavah and the chocolate amaretto baklavah, and a honey shredded wheat thing. YUUUMMM!!!
The salads are only OK, and this dessert by Mavro that I had this year was kind of gross after the first couple of bites. It was like mini andagi with a super sweet pomegranate sauce on top. Looked good, sounded good, but it was just tooooo sweet. Mavro’s people had to lower the price to sell them. They should’ve sold a smaller portion, maybe on sticks? Everyone likes food on a stick…
I like to visit the little market area where they sell cheese, olives, pasta, coffee, etc. I always buy a couple of cans of stuffed grape leaves.
They have Greek beer, wine, and hard liquor. This year we didn’t have anything to drink because (get this…) we got pulled over BEFORE we went into the festival when we were looking for parking. Cop thanks us for driving sober and this little boyscout gave us a bag of «goodies» put together by MADD.
McCoy Pavilion is a gorgeous venue with lots of lily ponds — I wish they would allow weddings there. City & County said that only non-​profits can use McCoy Pavilion. Doesn’t seem fair that my taxes are paying for it, but I can’t use it one time in my life, but a church can have a fundraiser there. BTW — I read that the Greek Orthodox Church raised more than $ 200,000 this year at their 27^th Annual event. Crazy!!!
Sponsors:
Saints Constantine & Helen
Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Pacific
930 Lunalilo Street
Honolulu, HI
phone # is for contact, Austin Vali